Caring for a pet, be it a dog or a cat, creates an inseparable emotional bond that brings with it numerous psychological benefits. But be careful, because unknowingly, our puppies They could transmit harmful infections with antibioticresistant bacteria. To say this, it’s a study conducted by researchers from the University of Lisbon in Portugal and by Sian Frosini from the Royal Veterinary College, UK, led by Juliana Menezes (Lisbon) and Sian Frosini (Royal Veterinary College), to be presented at the next European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon. The results not only prove the sharing Antibiotic Resistant Bacteriabut also of resistance genes to these drugs.
Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon caused by genetic mutations that bacteria are subject to. However, excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics accelerates the emergence and spread of antibioticresistant bacteria. Susceptible bacteria die when they come into contact with antibiotics, while resistant bacteria survive and continue to multiply. Resistant bacteria can spread and cause infections in other people who have not used antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance is considered a real health emergency. According to the World Health Organization, around 33,000 people die every year from infections caused by bacterial resistance in Europe, and in the OECD area alone the phenomenon will be responsible for 2.4 million deaths in the future.
also read
Corn and rice, the study: “Disabling a gene increases yield”. Therefore, it could affect productivity
For the study, the researchers recruited Animal pairs with their owners You had not had any bacterial infections or taken antibiotics in the past 3 months. They collected stool samples from 41 families in Portugal and 42 families in the UK. Samples were collected at monthly intervals for four months and genetic sequencing was used to identify both the bacterial species in each sample and the presence of drug resistance genes.
Researchers used a quick and easytouse molecular fingerprinting technique called RepPCR, which helps identify related strains of bacteria. As this is not as sensitive as whole genome sequencing, the strains were also sequenced to confirm possible sharing of resistant bacteria. Among the bacteria that can transmit animals, there are Escherichia coli (E. coli) are commonly found in the intestines of humans and animals. There are several types, and while most are harmless, some can cause serious food poisoning and lifethreatening infections.
also read
AIDS, “HIVResistant Immune Cells Laboratory Generated”
The results of the study revealed that ESBL/AmpCproducing bacteria were identified in 15% of all dogs and cats and 13% of their owners, and most of them were found to be resistant to most antibiotics. The same antibiotic resistance genes and the same Mdr bacteria were present in some of the samples examined, both in the animals and in their owners. “Sometimes bacteria are not shared, but their resistance genes are‘ explains Menezes. “These genes are in motile fragments of DNA, which means they can be transferred between different bacterial populations in animals and humans.”
The authors acknowledge some relative methodological limitations in the study not just the small number of samples examined but also from the observational nature of the study, which cannot prove that close contact with pets causes colonization with antibioticresistant bacteria. Despite this, scientists suggest that these findings reinforce the need to practice good hygiene around their pets and reduce the use of unnecessary antibiotics in both humans and animals.
also read
Covid, the study in Nature: “The prospect of highly virulent variants is very real”. Harmlessly endemic? “False and hasty theories”
Paula Perrotta